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Friday, September 29, 2006

13/30: It's time again for MP3 Blog Roulette!

I haven't listened to either of these tracks yet. Here are my predictions:

On "Everything I Love," Diddy and Nas ride a bouncy, poppy production tooled by Cee-Lo, who also provides hook duties. It's obvious that Nas ghostwrote Diddy's lines and is a suitable happy contrast for the "Hate Me Now" duo.

9th Wonder tinkers with his style a bit on "Crooklyn Dodgers," delivering his distinct-yet-groundbreaking sound. It's most welcome after 9th's countless remix albums, two or three Little Brother discs and an iPod full of guest productions. Mos Def sounds like he's stopped raiding Common's wardrobe. Memphis Bleek is lackluster than ever, and Jean Grae displays a competent but average verse over the slithering soul beat.

1 Comments:

This is the best beat I've heard from Mr. Douthit that isn't "Welcome To Durham", but never did I imagine that Memphis Bleek could outshine Jean Grae, who seems to be getting dumber by the minute even as the ferocity and passion in her voice haven't at all dissipated. Mos Def, for his part, might not be acting kooky, but the verse is still a long way from "Hip Hop" (his absolute peak), or indeed from even the two recent verses he's done that prove he's a remarkable talent-- "Wylin' Out" with Diverse and "The Corner [Remix]" with Com and Scarface. He also dropped a wack verse on his cut from the Little Brother Gangsta Grillz tape; it's as though he's so besotted with 9th that he doesn't see fit to try very hard when he's got such a beast backing him. (Come to think of it, neither does Phonte. We won't even discuss Rapper Big Pooh.)